Did IAD ever investigate the false arrest charge against Sgt Larry Davis before he was caught dealing pot? This is not him, by the way

When former city police sergeant Larry Davispleaded guilty in federal court last April to selling pot, it became clear: He was a dirty cop.

But he might've been even dirtier, earlier -- and the Internal Affairs Division might have known about it and done nothing.

On Monday, St. Louisan Tiffany Carty sued the Board of Police Commissioners in federal court, claiming to have proof that the sergeant falsely arrested her in 2007 (before Davis' pot charges) and violated her Constitutional rights.

She also faults the board for "failing to oversee" the matter and for being "deliberately indifferent to the misconduct of its police officers." Sound familiar? It should: The police board is already being sued by another young lady who was falsely arrested by former lieutenant Henrietta Arnold. That plaintiff, known as "S.L.," also faults the board for turning a blind eye to wrongdoing, all the way up the chain of command (read that horrible tale here.)

In the current lawsuit, plaintiff Tiffany Carty is alleging that on October 12, 2007, Sgt. Davis responded to Convenient Food Market at 8200 South Broadway and found her.

He arrested her and wrote in his report that he searched her vehicle and found illegal narcotics there.

But a video recording of the arrest shows he never searched the vehicle, Carty claims.

Carty was acquitted at trial.

She complained about all this to the police's Internal Affairs Division, but to her knowledge, no investigation of the dirty sergeant was ever undertaken in this matter.

In Daily RFT's opinion, it's too early to know whether IAD bothered to look into this. But whatever they did, it clearly didn't stop Sgt. Davis from confiscating suspicious packages at Fedex in 2010 and selling the pot he found inside.